voters like 19-year-old charlie comfort who we met at smokey row coffee co. in oskaloosa. >> i want to meet with them one- on-one. they have the opportunity to come here. i want to meet them. >> reporter: comfort has already won a seat on the local school board. he volunteered for then senator obama's campaign in 2008 but has since switched his allegiance to romney based on what he considers a broken promise by the president. >> i feel he's almost stiffed the voters on a couple of issues. the biggest one for me is education, obviously, because i'm on the school board, and i feel he's not paying near as much attention as he should to the educational system. >> what comfort cares about has >> reporter: what comfort cares about has instead been drowned out by the campaigns selling competing visions to iowans. the differing philosophies on job creation, the economy, and the role of government are clashing in newton, iowa. this is the birthplace of the washing machine, where maytag made its home for decades. in 2007, it became the town maytag left behind, when it